


He Awoke to Black

by SherKat



Series: After the Exile [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Exile, Gen, Sherlock Whump, Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-05-01 17:16:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19182274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherKat/pseuds/SherKat
Summary: He awoke to black.He waited for something to change. When nothing did, he began to reach out with his senses.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to write about Sherlock having to save himself from the completion of his suicide mission, but this came out instead. I have done zero research, I know nothing about the actual world of espionage or the military, so make of this what you will.

He awoke to black.

He waited for something to change. When nothing did, he began to reach out with his senses. First, the black. It was solid. All-encompassing. There was no feeling of foreboding or oppressive weight (strange, why did those thoughts arise?). The black just … was.

Next: silence. The silence wasn’t solid like the black, it was oddly … muffled? There didn’t seem to be any external sound to be muffled, yet the silence was muffled all the same. As if he was encased in a large pillow. (Pillow? What an odd word. Pih – lllllllllllllllohh. Wonder what it means? Something that muffles sound, obviously. (Obviously? Why obviously?) Wait, focus.)

Focus. Black. Muffled (?) silence. What’s next?

Sensation. He was a corporate being. He slowly became aware of a sense of occupying space in the black. He had a definite shape intruding into the black. He tried to make out what the shape was, trying to sense each part as he became aware of PAIN! HOT RED SOLID PAIN **BURNING PAIN** attacking him from all angles, different kinds of pain from different directions and different pieces of his corporate being. He tried to focus on one type from one area but it was too much too much TOO MUCH PAIN RED HOT BURNING **PAIN SOLID PAIN PAIN PAIN**

 

He awoke to black.


	2. Chapter 2

He awoke to black.

He remembered. Black. Muffled silence. Red hot PAIN NO!! Stop. Focus. Block the sensation of the pain. (How could he do that? It happened, so he must have, but how? No, focus.) The pain was red. He could sense it, on the other side of the barrier he had erected, but it was not currently overwhelming as before. He took a breath (a breath? BREATH: _noun._ the intake and expulsion of air during respir **_FOCUS!_** )

Focus. Keep the red pain on the other side of the barrier. Stretch out gently and _feel._ Sensation. Words came with the sensations. Body. Legs. Arms. Fingers. The arms were very red, especially where they were attached to the body. Shoulders. Dislocated. And the wrists. Also red, but different. A different kind of pain, too hot too red too close SOLID PAIN **STOP!** Focus. Breathe. It hurt to breathe.

Focus. Breathe. It hurt to breathe, but he kept doing it. A lesser hurt than the red pain. He could feel movement in his body when he breathed. Maybe he could move more of himself. Avoid the red. Try the legs. His legs were not red. There was pain, but lesser pain. He tried to concentrate on the end of one leg. His foot. Maybe he could move his foot. Concentrate. Try to move the foot. He thought he felt a shifting of some kind. He concentrated harder, focusing on just that foot. It moved! It moved side to side, up and down and PAIN! HEAD! BRIGHT FLASHING PAIN RED/BLACK/RED PAIN **PAIN PAIN**

 

He awoke to black.


	3. Chapter 3

_They were equal. Equally trained. Equally strong. Equally qualified. If this had been one of those amazing scientific fantasy stories, they could have been clones, or robots. But they weren't. What they were was the last hope of any agent sent on a suicide mission, knowing that success meant their eventual capture and mutual destruction with the enemy at the hand of their own agency._

_This team went in After. After it was over. After it was all said and done. After it had been reported that there couldn't possibly be any survivors. They were equal. Equally trained. Equally strong. Equally intelligent. Equally proficient. Equally qualified._

_Equally expendable._


	4. Chapter 4

He awoke to black.

He remembered. Black. Muffled silence. Keep the red pain on the other side of the barrier. Breathe. It hurt to breathe, but he kept doing it. His head. Last time it felt as if it exploded. He gently reached out to sense his head. Oooh, yes, there was pain. Back away but keep aware. If he thought about the head pain too much it brought on nausea, and that would NOT be good! (Where did THAT thought come from? Doesn’t matter, focus!) He slowly increased his concentration until the pain began to throb, then he backed away. Keep aware of the head pain while completing the body scan. Stay AWAY from the red arms. Legs and feet could move a bit, with lesser non-red pain. He could even turn his head a bit from side to side if he did it slowly and carefully.

When he turned his head to the side, he noticed something. The black was no longer solid. There was a patch of grey over there. He focused on it but could make out nothing more than a patch of grey. He blinked. (Blinked?? His eyes had been closed all this time?? _Idiot!_ ) He blinked again and looked towards the grey. It was lighter, but not bright. As if the moon was shining through a window. (in the ceiling?) He slowly made a visual scan of his surroundings. Dark (not-solid black) with a patch of lighter-than-dark. If that was moonlight, maybe it was nighttime. He consciously closed his eyes and tried to not concentrate on anything at all, drifting into a light doze.

 

He awoke to muffled sound.


	5. Chapter 5

He awoke to muffled sound. He opened his eyes.

 

_“Sir? We found him. He’s alive!”_


End file.
